We had a wonderful time in Texas with family and friends. On Friday the Dec. 18th we got Faith out of school early and headed out of town a little around 12:15 pm. We drove all day and all night and finally landed on my parents' doorstep a little after 9:00am (Texas time). Believe it or not, the 22 hours were not that bad and we will probably do it again. The kids were excellent and we had a nice time. However, a nice hot shower and some sleep did our bodies good in the late morning. Later we had to go to Costco and met Angie and Andrew and the boys there. Now I had been longing to hold my Dylan and love on him for months, but when he saw me he would have nothing to do with me. Oh, he loved on his uncle Jas, but he just pushed me away. My heart was broken, I'm sure mine is just the first of many hearts that he will break in his lifetime. Get this- that sweet boy took over 4 days to finally warm up to me and that is only because I kept giving him candy- little stinker. We spent Saturday evening at mom and dad's house. The kids had a fantastic time playing on the John Deer Tractor Nonie and Poppie got them. They took turns driving it in the garage because it was freezing. The entire time we were there that is all that Dayne wanted to do. "Ride tractor, ride tractor," he would say over and over again.
On Sunday we had a wonderful day at church. Dave did an incredible job leading the worship, God has truly blessed Hallmark with him. It was an amazing worship service. We sure miss our Hallmark family, but we are grateful for our new church family in W.V. The Sunday Evening Tradition continued as we enjoyed food and fellowship with friends and family at Gloria's downtown after church.
On Tuesday we headed to Wichita Falls to be with Jason's mom and sister and her family. But first we had stop off at the mall so the kids could see Santa. That all of these fun little rides that the kids could play on while waiting in line. Genius, those things probably brought in a couple of thousand that day! Finally when we got up there to see Santa, Faith told him she wanted some jewelry and craft stuff. Dayne told him that he wanted a tractor. When I said it was time to go, Dayne looked at Santa, put out his little hand and said, "I want tractor." It was so precious, he thought that Santa was going to give him a tractor right then. After all he sat in his lap without crying and asked for one- and all he got was a coloring book, man what's a boy to do?
We had a great relaxing time seeing Glenda, Jessica, Steve, Payton and Tori. We took the kids to see the lights at Midwestern University and Dayne loved the bubble machine. The displays were dated, but we had a nice time walking around and looking at everything. Dayne kept running under the ropes in hopes of getting on the displays- but would you expect anything less from him?
Christmas morning was so nice and relaxing for once. Glenda made us all a huge delicious breakfast and Jess and the family came over. We packed up a little after noon and headed to my Nanny's house. Now my Nanny is almost 88 years old and she still cooks a huge meal, buys and wraps about 35 gifts and has all of the family over to her house. I hope that at 88 I can do all of that and still enjoy it like she does. She is so wonderful (side note: please pray for her salvation, she desperately needs the Lord) and I can say that because I am her favorite!!! Anyway, after my Nanny's we headed to my parents house to eat Taco Salad and open gifts. Before opening gifts we always read Luke 2- the real Christmas story- and have a prayer. Then Faith sings "Happy Birthday Jesus" it is so precious and I know it must make God smile when He hears her.
We then tear into the gifts. Mom and dad tend to go overboard and spoil us all quite a bit. We had a very nice time and I absolutely love my new Garmin- thanks mom and dad.
On the following Sunday, we got to go visit the new church that Jason's dad, Jerry is preaching now. It is a very small church in Alvarado, they have been there just a couple of months now. The people were very friendly and Jerry did an excellent job as always. It was so sweet, we began singing the hymns and Faith was sitting next to Betsy. She leaned over to me with a surprised look on her face and said, "Mama how did Betsy get such a pretty voice?" It was so precious. After the service, we sat around the tree in the back of the auditorium and opened gifts. Poor little Dayne had strep and we didn't even know it, he looked so pitiful. Afterwards, we enjoyed a wonderful lunch with the 2 of them at The Cotton Patch - thanks Jerry and Betsy for a wonderful day.
On January 2nd we loaded up the car at 5:00am and headed out for Nashville, TN. We made excellent time arriving just a little after 5:00pm. We enjoyed the sites (more of that in a later post) and got some much needed sleep. The next morning I got up and went outlet shopping and then we made our way home. We arrived just a little after Midnight. The next morning we got up and celebrated Christmas at our house. Santa had arrived while we were gone and the kids were delighted. We had our traditional Christmas morning breakfast and just enjoyed our time together.
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